The property tax was sought to fund a new system of bus rapid transit, new traditional bus routes, and commuter rail between Detroit and Ann Arbor.

The regional transit tax in four Southeast Michigan counties went down to a narrow defeat because of an overwhelming rejection by voters in Macomb County.

The defeat of the proposal, which had strong backing from the business community, is another in a long line of failures over 40 years of attempts to create a more fully integrated transit system for Southeast Michigan.

The overall tally showed 873,308 in favor of the tax with 891,821 against with nearly all precincts reporting. That's a difference of 19,513 votes.

"The extremely narrow defeat of the proposed millage for regional transit is a deeply disappointing setback for efforts to create a modern transit system that would position southeast Michigan to be a stronger competitor in the 21st Century both nationally and internationally," RTA Board Chairman Paul Hillegonds and RTA CEO Michael Ford said in a joint statement.

"It leaves southeast Michigan as the only large region in the nation (and one of a few in the world) without a functioning regional rapid transit system. That means residents still will lack a convenient transit connection to jobs, communities will remain unconnected to one another, economic development will be more difficult and seniors and people with disabilities will lack the greater independence a fully functional transit system would provide."

The margin was tight despite a $6 million multimedia yes-vote campaign on behalf of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan's tax proposal. The RTA must wait two years before again asking for voter approval for money from property owners in the four counties. The 2012 state law establishing the RTA mandated two years between tax issues on the ballot, but theoretically someone could seek legislative dispensation for a vote before November 2018.

The tax, which required a simple majority to pass, was predicted to have raised $3 billion locally and would leverage a possible additional $1.7 billion in state and federal funding.

It would have paid for a new system of bus rapid transit (BRT), new traditional bus routes (cross-county connectors and rush hour express service), commuter rail between Detroit and Ann Arbor, more on-demand and paratransit services, and other transit improvements that have been absent in 40-plus years of failed attempts to create an RTA and regional plan.

It also would have funded a universal fare card and operations of the M-1 Rail streetcar in Detroit.

Backers pushed the RTA plan as a needed economic booster and a way to give better mobility for seniors, people with disabilities and the poor.

“To say we’re disappointed is an understatement," Detroit Regional Chamber President Sandy Baruah said in a written statement. "However, we respect the will of the voters and will continue to seek solutions to connect our region and provide mobility to those without access to personal vehicles.”

The heart of the plan was BRT, a system of train-like buses that travel in dedicated lanes, often with traffic signal priority and sometimes physically separated from vehicular traffic. They are express buses with limited stops. The RTA planned for BRT on four major transit corridors: Woodward, Michigan and Gratiot avenues, and on Washtenaw Avenue between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Service would have been phased in between 2022-26.

The yes-vote campaign was led by Lansing-based political public relations firm Truscott Rossman LLC, which had a $6 million budget to produce a pro-RTA campaign called Citizens for Connecting our Communities. Backers included a litany of political, corporate, civic and foundation backers. It formally launched Sept. 6, and the campaign strategy included rallies, events, TV and radio spots, print ads, social media elements and other tactics to get media and voter attention.

"The goal of regional transportation has drawn together a wide cast of supporters from the business community to grassroots activists," Kresge Foundation President and CEO Rip Rapson said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We can’t lose sight of how long we’ve fought, how far we’ve come, or how close we came. We know transportation is fundamental to regions that are competitive in a 21st-century world. We at The Kresge Foundation stand ready to do what we can to spur conversations on what can be done next to achieve a more unified region."

The limited organized opposition came from former Macomb County lawmaker Leon Drolet, a Macomb Township Republican who is chairman of the anti-tax Michigan Taxpayers Alliance. He headed a ballot question committee called NoMassiveTransitTax.org. It's a coalition that includes the MTA and the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. Drolet's fundraising goal was $600,000, but it wasn't immediately clear if that much cash was raised.

"This is a victory for taxpayers and for economic reason," Drolet said in a statement "Central planners spent $4 million trying to convince citizens that their central plans for everyone's lives justified this tax grab. Instead, voters chose to retain their economic freedom, keeping billions of dollars in the private economy and out of the budgets of bureaucrats."

The NoMassiveTransitTax.org bought some radio air time, signage, and did social media campaigning. It said it raised about $60,000 in donations.

The tax had recent favorable polling, at least in the business community. In an Epic-MRA poll conducted Oct. 17-19, 71 percent of 300 Crain's readers surveyed favored the transit tax. Twenty-three percent of those polled oppose the tax, and 6 percent were undecided or declined to answer.

Tuesday's vote was the culmination of an 18-month planning effort by the RTA. It kicked off its master plan process with a May 2015 rally in Detroit's Campus Martius Park. The plan and tax specifics were unveiled a year later.

A hiccup emerged over the summer when the elected executives of Oakland and Macomb counties made public their objections to parts of the RTA plan, such as service levels to outlying areas and the internal voting structure on funding. The impasse, in addition to being bad press, took the RTA to the deadline to get a tax on the ballot.

Eventually, a compromise was reached in which the RTA's board created a five-member funding allocation committee that will divvy the state and federal dollars the RTA apportions to the region's transit systems, such as the Detroit Department of Transportation and SMART. All funding decisions and any material change to the master plan must get unanimous approval from the committee to move forward.

It's not yet known what will happen next.

"We will be sitting down with our board in the near future to determine our next steps in fulfilling that task," the RTA leadership said in its statement.

“The fact remains that we have made significant progress over the last 18 months in developing a truly regional plan that meets the needs of the people and communities of this region. And the narrow margin of defeat indicates that many of our residents recognize the value of the plan and the region’s needs for it."